MATTER: BEHIND THE SCENES
From spoken idea to concept delivery.
After hours and hours of meticulous planning, organization, emails, phone calls, location scouting, shooting and editing, my fulfillment came upon knowing we saw this entire process through from start to finish and I was able to deliver something to Matter that makes a difference. The initial concept ideas in my head looked nothing like the final image, only better. We knew we had to make this project exceptional, but initially struggled with the means of getting the job done and done well.
Early on in the process, Jordan described the lights and the overall vibe of the shoot in four words, “energetic, hip, utilitarian and versatile.” We needed to live up to his vision with the photos, but ultimately took the creative elements into our own hands to create something inspiring. He initially came up with the idea of having people catching fireflies in the lights, amongst a few others. At the same time however I wanted to have a very “green” theme in the final images, highlighting the energy efficiency appeal of the product and capitalize on the idea of environmental awareness. For us the images also needed a dreamy, polished look to them to help convey the message.
With all my conceptual shoots, it begins with developing ideas and getting them written on paper. After that we needed to develop an actual storyboard and begin to ascertain the resources needed to get it off the ground. Since we worked from a storyboard, we were able focus our ideas (about six or so total) down to two main shots. Everything else was shot as an afterthought on-location.
Another huge factor in the shoot was finding the right resources to make it happen. As with all large production shoots, you simply cannot do it by yourself and create an exceptional final product. You need to outsource alot of the production. We hand-selected the models, found a clothing designer and chose the clothes to match the look, interviewed stylists, carefully selected locations and organized all the materials and assistants. And we did it at zero cost to us and Matter. It’s just another reason why networking and the exchange of services are so important when shooting personal work. Everybody wins.
Shooting on location.
We made many mistakes, yet learned a ton from doing this shoot. There are alot of things we could have done differently, but in the end it all worked out. One of the biggest struggles with doing a shoot of this scale and at no cost, was getting everything to come together on-time. It seemed as if the few small details were firmed up at the eleventh hour. They included finding a generator, last minute clothing accessories, gear failure, the firefly concept, lighting schemes and editing techniques. But without these experiences, we could have walked into a paid commercial shoot down the road feeling a bit clumsy. It’s about learning from your mistakes, growing from them and always putting the upmost value in teamwork.
Location selection was also one of the most important aspects to successfully planning the shoot. Without that, the photos may not have conveyed the right message. The primary shot was to have a “green vs. polluted” or “good vs. bad” feel. To do so, we needed to shoot at two locations to bring the concept together. Since I’ve already made a relationship with the owners of Goldin Recycling in Kaukauna while doing a past shoot, it was an ideal spot to shoot Amy donning an apocolyptic gas mask in front of a big old pile of scrap metal. That was an easy choice. Finding the right tree was far more difficult. After driving endlessly for a few hours, we found a lone tree with well groomed grass. Oddly enough, it was the Harley Davidson property less than one mile from my home. Obtaining permission to shoot there was not much of an obstacle. Even trickier was finding a nice spot on a lawn that went right up to tall corn in a field for the firefly shot. But approaching property owners was easy and we were met with great enthusiasm.
For the most part, all the photos required the use of multiple lights. Simply using one light would not have given the photos the pop and polish I was after. Being able to envision the end product and the key components within the scene, allowed me to experiment with the lighting and dial it in on certain areas within the photograph.
Take for instance the composited shot with the two models.. In each respective scene, we added our lighting one-by-one before introducing a model. We needed to accent the junk pile and the tree in the background. That was accomplished using a bare-bulb Sunpak 383 strobe. We wanted to keep the lighting directional and realistic compared to our light source in the photos, i.e. the Matter hanging light. Overdoing the background lighting would have killed the ambient effect. In order to add accent lighting to both the tree and the junk pile, we used an AlienBees AB1600 as a rimlight. We then added the models, lighting them with a Quantum Q-Flash in a 28″ softbox, using a more dramatic angle to bring in a moodiness to the subject. In order to get the lighting perfect, we had to shoot 30 or more shots before getting the one we wanted. By having a laptop on-location, we were immediately able to see our results and could compare previous photos from the junkyard to the ones near the tree. You can see more of the lighting techniques in the video above.
Creating the final image.
The final edit-down was much more Photoshop intensive than most of my other work. I knew this going in. The primary image for the shoot needed to be shot at two separate locations, which required me to composite two photos together to get the desired feel. In fact, that photo ended up being a comp of 5 different photographs. Though this process I learned a great deal about capabilities of Photoshop and how I could implement it into my workflow for commercial work.
There are no fancy Photoshop actions, high-pass filters, hdr or grungy textures effects going on in these shots. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, getting your images right IN-CAMERA and not having to rely on Photoshop to correct exposure, composition and lighting attributes is direly important. As we all know and would rather not do, polishing a turd can be a difficult job. Most of the Photoshop stuff going on in my photos here are compositing, altering the product lighting and creating that dreamy mood I spoke of earlier. I do not use Photoshop as my camera, but rather a tool to assist me in conveying a certain style and look.
Noticeably, the biggest Photoshop effect was “turning on” the light. We tried shooting the first couple of shots with the light plugged in, but it cast some wicked colors on our models faces. It became apparent we’d have to make that magic happen in post-production, so lights-off it was. We also needed to create a starlit sky. Although the moon in the firefly shot was way too fakey for my taste, it was the first time creating such a look from scratch.
Yes, one image —> 35 layers in CS4.
Before and After.
Below are some “before and after” comparison shots of the final images. The shots on the left are straight out-of-camera, without any color correction editing to the RAW files. The shots on the right are the final photos delivered to Matter. Have a looky look:
The final image below is a composite of five photos. We removed the hanging lights from the tree (above) and comped in the ones that appear to be lit-up (below.) I liked the junk pile on the right the best out of all the ones shot, but switched Amy out from another photo (notice her left hand above.) Also added were extra static shots of the grass from two other photos, allowing the lawn to merge with the dirt more realistically.
Below, the piece of sod was extended to make it look more like an actual lawn married up to this huge pile of junk. This was one of the last shots we took without the light being powered on. We also “plugged” the light’s power cord into the grass at the last minute to add to the “green” message.
Below, glare removed from the softbox and light turned on in post.
Fence post removed.
Lots of stuff going on here. Because of the accent lighting from the Sunpak behind Amanda, I felt I needed to add the moon. The moon was made from scratch and firefly/stars/fog added in post. I also needed to remove the light stand behind Amanda and make the lighting glow a tad more realistic. 28″ softbox on camera-left and a 50″ softbox on camera-right.
No product shoot is complete without some clean “safe” shots of the item itself.
Don’t be afraid of the water…
So many times in my life, I have stepped back from taking on a challenge, pursuing a dream or following my heart. Or for that matter, nearly walked away from my dream while already pursuing it. When I left my career as a police officer to pursue photography in December of 2007, I had a basic idea what I was in for. But I didn’t figure out some of the really important parts until I took the actual plunge. Had I not followed my heart however, I would have been left rotting in a job I was slowly learning to hate.
The same holds true with every new direction I pursue in my photography career. I’m relatively young into the career and have yet to truly forge my way. The truth of the matter is, there are new struggles for me each and every day. Whether it’s learning new ways to shoot, overcoming creative struggles, dealing with difficult clients, facing burn-out, putting myself up against other photographer’s work, worrying about paying the bills every month, balancing family life with professional life, maintaining friendships or believing in myself.. the learning never stops and by no means am I perfect at what I do. I never will be.
For me personally, this shoot opened my eyes to new areas within my own photography that needs improvement, yet at the same time revitalized my creative thinking process. I learned more about my potential as a photographer and new markets that my work can reach. It reinforced that fact that shooting personal work is one of the most important aspects to continual growth as a photographer. I discovered that by sharing my heart and helping others out without the expectation of receiving something in return, opened my eyes to the idea that a community can come together for the greater good.
I pour my heart and sole into my work everytime I pick up a camera. I’m happy to share this new experience here on the blog. Time to grab a towel and dry myself off…..
~dave
Special thanks go out to Trevor, my studio manager and dear friend, for putting in so much hard work into getting this shoot off the ground. Although I talk about him often, he has helped me to no end and has given me a little chunk of my life back over the past year. Thanks also go out to Zack Arias for being a true friend, mentor and ass-kicker along the way. You dudes rule. Beer-buying will commence soon…
